Growing Up Unstable
by JustEnjoyTheShow13
Summary: AU In a world 50 years from now, Jeff and Nick exist. The world is disgusting, there's no happiness, and Nick comes from a family of exiled-from-society crazies. What happens when the blond and brunet bond over the piano? Will they be able to be together?
1. Intro

The world of 2011 was very different than the world we know today. Today, in 2063, the world was a disaster. The ground was crawling with disease, the air intoxicated with toxins. If a person wanted to even step outside their house, they had to be disinfected for five minutes and only stay outside for an hour, at the most.

There was no such thing as happiness in the world. A person is born, grows up just getting by, finds a job, finds a mate, has a minimum of 2 children, passes on their belongings, and dies. There's no room for enjoyment or happiness in a lifetime.

Once and a while, there were the kids that found what they love is the job they've been assigned. Those were the lucky ones. They got to coast thorough life as close to happy as possible. Not necessarily happy, but close.

The ones with the horrible jobs were the ones that suffered. They went through life not wanting to get up in the morning and praying for death to come quickly.

Most of the teenagers were assigned an afterschool activity based on the STOP. The STOP was the Standardized Test of Placement. It tested teenagers when they are children about each skill one could possess.

Good dancers were assigned dance at Miss Henley's Studio. Singers were assigned choir at Mrs. Gregg's room. Very few were good piano players. Those that were piano players were immediately taken out of school, moved into Madame Claire's home, and were forced to play piano six hours every day.

This is where we meet our star-crossed lovers, Jeff Sterling and Nick Duval.


	2. Nicholas Duval

A/N: Hello! I hope everyone liked the intro! So this is a futuristic AU!Niff. It is set up plot wise as Next to Normal because I just love the Henry/Natalie story and the whole story in general. So Next To Normal songs will be used throughout.

And yes, I know I shouldn't be starting a new story, but I couldn't help this one.

So review and enjoy and fave and subscribe, etc. Follow me on Tumblr and Twitter(links on my page)

-Madison

We find ourselves in the humble abode of Madame Claire. Her house was quaint and cozy, but it was just the right size for her students.

As of 2063, Madame Claire had seven students: Jeffrey Sterling, Nicholas Duval, Morrison Kahnter, Joshin Grimesy, Leila Freem, Lindsey Harowld, and Cam Yackson. All of them were taken from their homes between ages five and ten. But the other five students don't matter.

We meet the tragic lovers of our story in separate piano rooms.

Nicholas Duval came from a family of whack jobs and hooligans. When he was five, his mother was officially diagnosed as crazy. His father was diagnosed as half-crazy. Both his parents and all future descendants of the Duval family were exiled from the community. To save Nicholas, his parents dropped him off onto the doorstep of Madame Claire as a baby. They explained their dilemma and gave her their number and other contact information for their dear Nicholas for the future. They asked Madame to tell them their story and that they love him. They asked him to say they didn't mean to leave him.

They told him that themselves, but he was too young to understand what was going on. They doubted he would even remember what happened before Madame's house. They figured he would forget them.

They left Madame with a photo album and told her to let him visit and call them when he became older. Madame promised to care for him as her own, and she did. Nicholas grew up to be a bright child. He may not have been the greatest piano player, but Madame worked with him everyday so that he would be just as good as the other six students at Madame's house. Madame gave him the photo album when she thought he was ready and told him all about his parents. He vaguely remembered some things, while he remembered his mother's craziness clearly. Nick visited them in the next community over when he was thirteen. He arrived at the house and tripped right over the shock machine wires in the living room. The floor was unable to be seen with all of the pill bottles thrown carelessly all over the floor.

Nicholas had been so frightened he never went back unless absolutely necessary. He remained in touch with his real parents by phone call and email only. That is where we continue with the young Duval.

He was on his daily phone call with his father. His father had been talking about the new procedure the doctor's from their community were going to try on his mother to cure her. This was the hot topic of every conversation. They fought over what should be done with his mother.

Nicholas's mother became crazy over the fact that his older brother had died before Nicholas was even born. Nicholas knew he was just a replacement. His parents acted like they loved him, but he could tell deep down by the tone in their voices he wasn't their favorite. Nicholas sometimes wondered whether they replaced him through all the years. He felt bad for that child. It would be even less loved then himself, which is not that much to begin with.

"Maybe you could even come live with us if she gets better." Nicholas could tell his father was just deadpanning that. He could tell it was all fake.

"I wouldn't be able to anyway, father. I'm part of the piano club and I'm not allowed to leave Mo-Madame's house."

"Yes, I always seem to forget. Well, I wish you were able to visit us. It's unfortunate that you caught that infection when you were little that the doctors won't let you leave the community." That was a lie. Nicholas just didn't want to go back to their house. His parents kept asking why he never visited so he had to make something up on the spot. Somehow his parents believed him. He thinks it's because they never really cared much in the first place anyway.

"I wish so too dad," Now here comes the fighting. "So how exactly does this procedure work for mom?" Nicholas was anticipating the worst.

"Well, they do a simple procedure to insert the electricity into her brai-"

"Wait! They're putting fucking electricity into her fucking brain?"

"NICHOLAS DAVON DUVAL! You do NOT you that language in front of m-" His father doesn't know about his recklessness. There's a whole other side to Nicholas. It helps him take away the pain of his parents.

"Who cares? You're letting your wife's brain fry and you don't even fucking care! You act like you're buying a new fucking puppy! Did you ever stop to think how I feel? Or that she could DIE from this? NO!"

"You know what son? You don't LIVE here! You can't make a decision for your mother! You don't even know how she's like! She's getting worse each and ev-" Nicholas hung up. He didn't want to hear anymore.

He picked up the piano bench he had knocked over in his anger and sat down on it. He turned his phone off and threw it across the room. He didn't want any distractions.

He started plucking at the keys and began to sing

_When you walk into the room and they just stop the conversation,  
>When there's no room for your Clearasil with all the medication.<br>When your house has much more nudity, profanity, and crudity,  
>Then any crap you'd ever seen on cable<br>You're growing up unstable._

Unknown, a blond boy of about seventeen came out of his piano room and was standing outside of Nicholas's piano room.

_When they haul her off and hook her up to try to fry her brain out  
>When you do the shit you have to do to drain the stupid pain out<br>When you're trying to disguise it all while your father just denies it all  
>And lets you sell him any sort of fable<br>You're growing up unstable_

The blond listened in, intrigued by the brunet pouring his soul out into a story right before his own eyes. He started drifting closer and closer to being inside out the room.

_And now am I allowed to live my teenage years  
>My footloose days of running fast and free<br>And how can I enjoy my rash and reckless teenage years  
>When my mom will always be much crazier than me?<em>

The blond boy wanted to help cure the brunet's pain. He felt a pang in his chest with every note the brunet sang.

_When they tell you that they're sure this cure will do the trick and change her  
>When they say that every time, and every time she just gets stranger<br>When you know you've heard those lies before,  
>Seen it in their eyes before,<br>As you sat at that pathetic dinner table  
>Knowing you'd leave if only you were able<br>That feeling has a label  
>You're growing up unstable<em>

Nicholas was heavily breathing by the end. He was choking back his tears as he heard slow clapping come from behind him. He jumped as he snapped back to reality and turned around.

Madame walked in with a young-looking blond boy that couldn't be much older than himself. "Ah, yes Nicholas, I'm glad I caught you. This is the boy I want you to do a duet with for the pick Government's Ball Recital. This is Jeffrey Sterling."

Something clicked as the lover's eyes met each other for the first time.


	3. Partners?

"Hello. Nicholas is it?" Nicholas didn't respond, he just continued to stare at the blond with confusion.

"Ah, yes, Jeffrey, this is your duet partner Nicholas." Jeffrey reached his hand out to shake Nicholas's. Nicholas completely ignored the offer and watched the blond drop his hand back to his side. Madame continued as if she never saw the exchange. "I would like you two to figure something out to play at the Recital. It must be appropriate and tasteful." Both boys nodded their heads in agreement. "Now I'm going to leave you alone since you two are two of my older students. Good day boys."

The brunet continued to stare at the blond. Jeffrey decided to finally break the silence. "So what do you think we sh-"

"I have a song in mind. I'll give you your parts. You can go practice in your room and I'll practice in mine."

Jeffrey was puzzled. "But, don't you want to practice together or…?"

"No, not really." Well that was blunt. The blond started to walk away as he was stopped by the brunet's voice.

"Wow, you give up way too easily." The brunet chuckled.

The taller boy quickly turned and sat with his duet partners. The Nicholas blushed as Jeffrey scooted closer.

"No I don't. You just seemed…er… _prissy_…"

The stare Jeffrey was given was as painful as getting an arm cut off. Nicholas punched Jeffrey's arm.

"Are you comparing me to a _girl_?"

Jeffrey fell over the back of the bench backing as far away from Nicholas as he could. Nicholas was someone you did not want to make angry.

"N-n-no.. I-I j-just meant." He gave up on words. Words did not come easily to Jeffrey.

Nicholas counted to ten silently in his head and calmed down. Jeffrey came and sat back down.

"So, Jeffrey, I _guess_ we can work on the duet together. But no messing around. We have to get this done."

The blond nodded. "Yes, ok. And call me Jeff. I don't like that shitty name. _Jeffrey_. It makes me sound proper as fuck." Jeff pointed to Nick. "I _will_ hurt you if you call me that. I don't like it."

The brunet smirked. "Ok, _Jeffrey_, partners?" He reached out his hand for the blond to shake.

Jeff slammed his head onto the keys of the piano. He finally lifted his hand and shook Nicholas'. "Partners." Jeff started to leave, but turned back around. _But,_ if you keep punching people like that, they might compare you to a girl. And I might have to disown you as a duet partner." Nicholas grabbed his pillow from the corner, jumped onto Jeff and whacked him straight across the face.


	4. Jazz vs Classical

**AN: OMG SO I ALSO ABANDONED THIS AND I JUST GOT REALLY BACK INTO IT SO HERE'S A SUCKY CHAPTER ENJOY AND REVIEW I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE DIALOUGE FROM N2N**

Weeks passed, and our star-crossed became closer and closer. Of course, Nicholas refused to let his walls down. It was as if he had let a few bricks out, but the walls were still standing firmly.

Today, Jeff and Nicholas found themselves goofing off, as they were ahead of the schedule Nicholas had set up for their practices. Jeff was playing random little tunes on the piano, and Nicholas was actually laughing, something he hadn't done in years. Jeff was happy to know he had put that smile on his face, for it made him look even more beautiful than he already was.

"You know what, Nicky?" Yes, Jeff even got away with calling Nicholas Nicky, something no one had ever done before. It was all because Nicholas was in such a good mood. Of course, that didn't mean Nicholas's walls were coming down anymore, but at least it was a start.

"What, Jeffrey.?" And of course, Nicholas still called Jeff Jeffrey. It made Nicholas laugh at the expression on Jeff' face when he called him that. There was something that really bugged Jeff about his proper name, but Nicholas wasn't sure what. All Nicholas knew was that he liked annoying the shit out of Jeff.

"I think jazz is a lot more fun to play that that rigid shit on the paper" Young Jeff made an emphasis on Jazz by slamming down on the keys, turning to playing a jazzier piece than he had before he stopped. Nicholas watched Jeff's hands play the random notes, letting the music sink in a bit.

"It's alright," Nicholas remarked, listening for a bit more before adding, "Well, _for jazz._" The look on Jeff's face was priceless. He abruptly stopped playing, turning to face Nicholas who was behind him.

"I am _so _gonna pretend you didn't just say it like that." He looked away from Nicholas, continuing to play random notes on the piano that somehow still sounded good. It gave Nicholas a headache just thinking of _jazz_. Everything in his life had been whack and he needed this one thing to be normal and structured.

"It's just that, the thing with jazz is, how do you ever know when you've got it right?" Nicholas was genuinely curious."It's just making shit up."

"Which is also known as the act of creation!" Jeff stood up proudly, making Nicholas give out a quiet chuckle. Jeff seemed very adamant about jazz, and it was pretty funny to Nicholas, although he guessed he should have seen it from the beginning with Jeff's reckless personality. Nicholas realized for once, he was having fun doing something that wasn't structured and rigid. He sat down on the bench next to Jeff, their legs pressed together.

"Oh, you're one of those pretentious stoner types, huh?" Nicholas teased, placing his fingers on the keys, starting to play random notes like Jeff was. The only difference was that Jeff made the notes sound good, and on the other hand, Nicholas did not.

"Wrong, I'm not pretentious." Jeff slid his hands over Nicholas's, guiding his hands on which notes to play. Nicholas flinched when he first felt Jeff's on his own, but then counted to ten, telling himself to relax. "And I'm definitely not classical, all rigid and structured. There's no room for improvisation. You have to play the notes on the paper. There's no fun in that, Nicky." After guiding his hands for a bit, Jeff let go, letting Nicholas play on his own. "There, now you've got it." Jeff smiled at the boy, getting lost in his deep brown eyes. He only snapped out f it when he heard Nicholas speak again.

"Yeah, and what did Mozart know anyway?" Nicholas spat. "He probably just smoked a bowl and jammed to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" Nicholas rolled his eyes, his jazzy notes slowly turning into the notes of their duet that Nicholas had already learned by heart. Jeff then placed his hands over Nicholas's, stopping him.

"I like the way you think"


End file.
